him lie the seals, the brood of ocean, and bitter is the smell of
the salt water that they breathe. Thither will I lead thee at
break of day, thee and three of thy companions. Choose them from
thy ships, the bravest that thou hast. And now I will tell thee
the old man's ways. First, he will count the seals, and then will
lie down in the midst, as a shepherd in the midst of his flock.
Now, so soon as ye shall see him thus laid down, then remember
your courage, and hold him there. And he will take all manner of
shapes of creatures that creep upon the earth, and of water
likewise, and of burning fire. But do ye grasp him fast, and press
him hard, and when he shall return to his proper shape, then let
him go free, and ask him which of the gods is angry with thee, and
how thou mayest return across the deep.' Thereupon she dived
beneath the sea, and I betook me to the ships; but I was sorely
troubled in heart. The next morning I took three of my comrades,
in whom I trusted most, and lo! she had brought from the sea the
skins of four sea-calves, which she had newly flayed, for she was
minded to lay a snare for her father. She scooped hiding-places
for us in the sand, and made us lie down therein, and cast the
skin of a sea-calf over each of us. It would have been a grievous
ambush, for the stench of the skins had distressed us sore,--who,
indeed, would lay him down by a beast of the sea?--but she wrought
a deliverance for us. She took ambrosia [Footnote: ambrosia, the
food of the gods.], very sweet, and put it under each man's
nostrils, that it might do away with the stench of the beast.

"So all the morning we waited with steadfast hearts. And the seals
came forth from the brine, and ranged them in order upon the
shore. And at noon the old man came forth out of the sea, and went
along the line of the sea-beasts, and counted them. Us, too, he